Terrible live bands

[peewee_RotA]

I've got this general rule. If you sound exactly the same in concert as you did on your studio album, then you suck at live performances.


So here is Offspring at woodstock99

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBK0uMGUsSs

Here they again in 2008

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBK0uMGUsSs


Nuff said? 

This is why I leave concerts up to Yes, The Eagles, Dire Straights... etc A concert is an improv session in your own style. If you can't hack it then you are a hack. IMO

[|iR|Focalor]

I disagree somewhat. In the studio, you can edit your music and engineer the piss out of it until it sounds perfect. Most bands don't sound anywhere near as good live as they do in the studio. Believe me, I've seen a lot of bands, and very few of them sound as good live as they do on their albums. Being able to play and reproduce that manufactured and perfectly edited studio sound in one take is a testimony to the musicians talent. Some bands do it very well. I always thought that Lynyrd Skynyrd was a great band. Ronnie Van Zant was very demanding about that. With a band as large as they had, it isn't easy to keep everyone playing on time and in sync, but they always did it beautifully.

If a band is really good, they can still ad lib a bit on the lead portions without subtracting from the sound too much. People expect the songs played live to be what they heard on the record. If a band completely changes the sound of a song for a live show, I feel a little ripped off. It leads me to believe that they aren't good enough to reproduce what they've written on paper, like they are frauds who can only use studio trickery to make their sound work. It's not so easy to remember how to play ALL of your guitar solos the same way you did in the studio. Sometimes I write my solos on the fly in one or two improv takes. I usually like to write and record them in sections to play around with them and make sure they follow and fit with the rhythm guitar tracks well.

Of course there are a few exceptional bands out there. The three you mentioned are definitely what I would consider exceptional musicians. Steve Howe of Yes has always been one of the best in the world (in my opinion at least). Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits... does anyone need to say how good he is? And the Eagles have a great total package, good song writing, good musicians, and a perfect collection of voices for individual vocals as well as multi-part harmonized vocals.

But yeah, I agree, fuck the Offspring.

[haunted]

dire straits is awesome. They're brothers, right?

[|iR|Focalor]

lolwut!?!